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Susquehanna-Roseland power line grows Delaware Water Gap national park

Susquehanna-Roseland power line grows Delware Water Gap national park

The Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area is seen in this undated photo looking west from Kittatinny Ridge in New Jersey down the Susquehanna-Roseland power line cut toward Pennsylvania.
(Photo courtesy National Park Service)

The National Park Service this week announced the expansion, which is due to land donated under the agreement with utility companies to allow construction of a new power line through the park.

The land is part of $66 million in compensation from PPL Corp. and PSE&G in exchange for permission to build the $1.42 billion Susquehanna-Roseland transmission line linking the Berwick, Pa., area and Roseland in New Jersey's Essex County. In Northampton and Warren counties, only Hardwick Township in New Jersey is affected by construction.

Park officials adjusted the boundary of the roughly 67,000-acre park to include an additional 288 acres. The land breaks down into 68 acres in Sandyston Township, Sussex County, in New Jersey and, in Pennsylvania, 42 acres in Dingman Township, Pike County, and two adjacent parcels totaling 178 acres in Middle Smithfield Township, Monroe County. Also being conveyed is a nearly 16-acre right-of-way easement.

The Conservation Fund, a nonprofit, is buying the land for the park service with the so-called mitigation funds from the utilities. The land is largely undeveloped, either within or adjacent to the former park boundary, and will require little maintenance, the park service announced.

"The purchase of these lands by The Conservation Fund from willing and interested sellers without the use of any taxpayer dollars, and their subsequent transfer to the NPS, will ensure that they remain in the public trust for future generations to learn from and enjoy, and provide both ecological and economic benefits to all of us," Delaware Water Gap park Superintendent John J. Donahue said in a statement.

Concerns remain

New Jersey Sierra Club Director Jeff Tittel, a vocal critic of the Susquehanna-Roseland project, said Wednesday the impact on the park has been "about as bad as we thought." The towers are much higher than previous towers that held a lower voltage line, and their blinking red lights are visible for miles.

"Before when you looked west, all you saw was dark mountains," he said.

He acknowledged the utilities' compensation to the National Park Service "can do some good things" but likens the arrangement to "pay to play."

"The only way you can mitigate it is you put the lines underground," Tittel said, adding later: "I think it was approved because (the park service) got mitigation money, but I think the mitigation money was really more of a sellout."

Construction is substantially completed on the 500-kilovolt line crossing through the water park, Middle Delaware National Scenic and Recreational River and Appalachian National Scenic Trail, according to representatives of the utility companies.

"We're really on the home stretch here," said George Sous, manager of transmission outreach for PSE&G.

PSE&G's portion of the project is budgeted at $790 million. The project budget for PPL, based in Allentown, is $630 million, spokesman Paul Wirth said.

June 2015 completion

Work that remains in the park includes restoring access roads and planting, the utility representatives said.

The last remaining park closure in either state affects Community Drive in Middle Smithfield Township and that is slated to expire at month's end, according to Wirth.

Wirth put PPL's portion of the project at 75 percent complete. Sous said PSE&G's work is substantially finished, with lines being strung by helicopter. Testing and restoration work remains on both sides of the Delaware River.

The line is on schedule to be energized in June 2015, bringing new power to the grid operated by PJM that serves 13 states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and the District of Columbia.

"The need has not changed, and overall electric demand is still ... expected to increase, slowly and steadily," Wirth said. "And also the line will help relieve overload on other power lines in the region."

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POWER LINE MITIGATION

As compensation for impacts to National Park Service resources and visitors, PPL Corp. and PSE&G agreed to $66 million in compensation known as a mitigation package. The fund includes:

$10 million for impacts to the Appalachian National Scenic Trail and trail users.

$20.5 million for land acquisition and stewardship for the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.

$12 million for wetland restoration and mitigation.

$13 million for cultural resource and historic preservation.

$7 million for administrative costs and post-construction monitoring over the next several years.